Some Reasons Proposals
Fail
- The application is outside the purview of the funding agency. The
applicant either failed to learn about the agency's restrictions or areas of
interest or misunderstood them.
- The subject is not relevant to an issue of regional or national
importance or lacks sufficient scientific significance. Most funding
agencies seek to fund projects which offer the prospect of replicable
solutions to societal problems or that will make a significant contribution to
knowledge in a particular field.
- The methodology appears to be flawed. A proposal may address a
problem of significance which is important to the funding agency, but it may
be rejected because it approaches the problem in a way that the reviewers do
not believe adequately tests its own assumptions or because it fails to ask
the right questions.
- The applicant has not included measurable outcome indicators in the
proposal. Without some means of measuring success of the project, funding
agencies will not invest their resources.
- The funding agency is not the most appropriate source of funds for the
proposed project. If reviewers believe another government program or
private foundation is a more appropriate source of funding, they may decline a
proposal regardless of its merits. In some cases, they will refer the grant
seeker to the more appropriate source.
- The funding agency has already funded a similar project. It is rare
that a problem of regional or national and sometimes scientific significance
is perceived in only one place at one time. If the funding agency has already
funded someone else who has approached the same problem in the same general
way, a turndown is likely.
- The funding agency's priorities and interests may have changed.
Because both governmental agencies and foundations are concerned with
addressing changing societal problems or advancing technology, their
priorities and interests are constantly evolving. What was a priority a month
ago may now have been replaced by an emerging issue.
- The proposed project does not allow for the highest and best use of the
agency's funds. Most funding agencies do not consider charitable effects
of a proposed project as a major decision factor. Instead, they have goals of
putting in place programs which can be self-sustaining and can be replicated
or which will have a major impact on a discipline.
- The applicant has failed to demonstrate fiscal accountability.
Funding agencies will make grants only to those organizations which have
demonstrated ability to manage the funds. Failure to provide sufficient detail
regarding fiscal systems and experience can result in a turndown.
- The applicant has used the "shotgun" approach. It is clear to
reviewers when the applicant has not read or understood the agency's interests
and application procedures and has instead forwarded a generic proposal to
many funding sources at the same time. Lack of "match" with the agency's
priorities and criteria ensures a turndown.
from Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis, 1998